Honors Curriculum
Honors courses are designed to teach students to be excited by ideas, to love discovery, to become independent, creative an self-confident learners.  We are preparing exceptional students to perform in every imaginable sphere of life.  We are more about options and opportunities than rigid requirements.  Write a thesis or do a creative project or something that is independent and important in your major, study abroad, join an organization and be a leader.  Choose to help shape your curriculum in ways not possible in other academic units.

Yes! Honors courses are different. 
Quality rather than quantity separates Honors courses from the non-Honors curriculum.  While the work requirements in an Honors course may involve larger and harder assignments than would be given in other courses in the University, the goal of the Honors curriculum is to encourage the student to extract more intellectual value out of the work that is assigned rather than simply to do more assigned work.

In your Honors classes you can expect:

• more flexibility and freedom
• more personal attention
• an intellectual challenge
• to be required to think critically and analytically
• to be encouraged to take some initiative in determining the direction of the course
• a significant amount of writing
• the use of creative teaching approaches from the professors and creative responses from students
• an openness and honesty in approaching what may be new and controversial from both faculty and students
• to have the opportunity to get involved in research as an undergraduate
• to take on greater responsibility for academic choices to do a little more

Liberal Education Requirements (LERs)

One student's story:  I came to Kent State thinking that the first couple of semesters would be a big waste of time, seeing that I was taking more of the liberal education requirements than my major requirements. It is becoming evident now that those classes are just as, if not more, important than the major coursework.  They have helped me look at my surroundings very differnetly.  I pay attention to things that I never would have noticed before.  I have taken classes in architecture, ethics, politics, communication, and science. I have a better understanding of how the world works, looks, acts, and communicates.  More importantly, I can look past the surface and find the reasoning that people use to make judgments and come to conclusions about these differing issues.  These new skills and learned abilities help me to better live a well-rounded, well-educated life every single day.
                                                                                                 --former Honors student (accounting major)

College is a good place to learn how to respond to living in a world with others.  We are obligated to understand, be compassionate, and exhibit ethical behavior when we encounter different life experiences or values different from our own.

A bachelor's degree is designed to prepare you both for work and a life lived with other people.  LERs are courses which provide you with a base on which to build a life as well as earn a living.  These courses are designed to increase your knowledge and enhance your ability to use that knowledge in intelligent, creative, and responsible ways.  You will learn how to think independently, understand how to obtain information, and make your community a better place in which to live.

Employers want these kinds of flexible skills.  They're looking for people who can communicate effectively (oral/written/listen), apply critical thinking, solve unstructured problems (ask the right questions; not necessarily provide the right answer), live comfortably with more than a single solution, behave ethically and honestly, work independently or in teams, have some knowledge of computers, and appreciate diversity.  We have to get past the mistaken idea that the only reason to go to college is to prepare for a job.  We go to college to prepare to be a responsible citizen, with a productive career, in a big world.

When planning your schedule, make your LER choices thoughtfully.  LERs can play a huge role in your life-long success.  All Kent State students complete at least 36 hours of these courses which may inlcude our domestic and/or global diversity requirement (domestic diversity - within western cultural traditions; global diversity - outside western traditions and are often at odds with worldviews common in Europe and the Americas).

Pre-College Credit
PSEO, CLEP, AP, IB hours may or may not count as degree hours toward graduation in your selected major.  Discuss all your pre-college credit with your Honors advisor. (AP/IB)